The Iliad Review

The Iliad Review

Some questions may be repeated. If that is the case, you may skip any questions that are redundant. Some of the questions on the review sheet are omitted from the test. The numbers of the answers correspond to the number on the review sheet.

Book 1

1. What did Apollo do to punish the Greeks? Send a plague on them

1. Why did Apollo punish the Greeks? Agamemnon kidnapped Chryses’ daughter

1. Why do Agamemnon and Achilles argue? Agamemnon threatened to take Achilles’ war prize, Briseas, if Agamemnon did not receive another war prize to replace the one he had to give up

1. Why does Athena visit Achilles? To stop him from harming Agamemnon

1. What does Achilles do at the end of Book 1? Stopped fighting in the war

1. What is Achilles best known for among the Greeks and Trojans? Fighting skills

11. Why does Agamemnon agree to return Chryseis? In order to stop Apollo’s plague

1. Why does he resist returning Chryseis at first? Because he did not want to be without a war prize

1. Why does Agamemnon feel insulted by Calchas? Because Agamemnon feels insulted by Calchas because the prophet asked him to give up his war prize

1. Why does Achilles retreat from the war? Because Agamemnon took his war prize

1. Who tries to stop the argument between Achilles and Agamemnon? Nestor

1. According to Agamemnon, what does Achilles want to do? Take control of the entire army or become king

Books 6 and 22

1. How has Achilles already harmed Andromache’s family? He has killed her father, and brothers and kidnapped her mother and returned her for a ransom

20. Why does Andromache want Hector to stay close to Troy’s walls? Because she fears that he will be killed unless he stays close to the walls for protection

1. According to Hector, how should one deal with fate? You should accept your fate because you can’t change it

1. What bothers Hector the most about dying? That his wife will be taken a slave and forced to go Greece

23.Why is Hector so determined to keep fighting? It’s his nature and it is how he has been trained

1. Why does Achilles re-enter the war? To avenge the death of his friend Patrolcus

1. What does Hector offer to do if he kills Achilles? He offers to return Achilles’ body to the Greeks

1. Who helps Achilles kill Hector? Athena

Books 1, 6, 22, and 24

1. What is Priam begging Achilles for? He is begging for the return of Hector’s body

1. Who does Achilles remember as a result of Priam’s word? His father and Patroclus

1. What does Achilles threaten to do to Priam after the Greek loses his temper? Kill him

1. Why does Priam suddenly leave Achilles’ camp? He fears for his life thanks to a dream caused by Hermes

1. What is Achilles’ attitude toward Hector as the Trojan lies dying? Defiance

1. Priam sees the return of Hector’s body mainly as a personal matter.

1. Why does Priam embrace Achilles’ knees? Out of desperation

1. Why are Priam and Achilles able to form a bond between them? They have both lost someone and feel anguish

1. Who does Achilles show the least sense of duty toward? Agamemnon

1. What started the Trojan War? Eris

1. Who is Paris? Kidnapped Helen, Priam’s son

1. Who is Menelaus? King of Sparta

1. Who is Calchas and what did he do to anger Agamemnon? Greek priest and prophet

1. Who is Patroclus? Achilles’ best friend who Hector killed in battle

1. Who is Andromache? Hector’s wife

1. Who is Astyanax? Hector’s son

1. How is Hector shown to be a loving, caring husband and father?

1. Who is Chryses? Apollo’s priest

1. Who is Hecuba? Hector’s mother

1. Who is Chryseis? Agamemnon kidnaps her; she is Agamemnon’s war prize

49. Who is Briseis? Achilles’ war prize

1. Who is Nestor and what role did he play in the tale? Wisest and oldest of the Greeks; tried to stop the argument between Achilles and Agamemnon

1. Who is Hera and what role did she play in the tale? Zeus’ wife, gave Achilles the idea to ask a prophet why Apollo was punishing the Greek

1. Who is Aphrodite and what role did she play in the myth? Goddess of love and beauty; won the title of the Fairest which started the Trojan War

1. Who is Priam? Hector’s father

1. Who is Zeus and what role did he play in the tale? King of the gods, wanted to intervene when Hector was running from Achilles but didn’t; impartial judge

1. Who is Athena and what role did she play in the tale? Goddess of war and wisdom; helped the Greeks

1. Why does Achilles return to the battle? To avenge the death of Patroclus

57. What does The Iliad begin with? A prayer to the Muses

1. Who suggests to the Greeks that they seek an oracle so he can tell them why Apollo sent a plague on them?Achilles

1. Why does Agamemnon become angry with Calchas?

1. What type of literature is The Iliad? Epic poetry

1. What did the Greek soldiers want Agamemnon to do so that Apollo would stop punishing them? Return the girl to her father

1. How did Athena keep Achilles from attacking Agamemnon? Pulling his hair

1. What does Agamemnon say he will do if he has to forfeit his girl captive? Take another girl from one of his generals, specifically Achilles’ girl

1. Why does Achilles not agree to submit to Agamemnon’s wishes? He feels it would make him seem like a coward

1. What bothers Hector the most when he thinks about dying? His wife being taken prisoner and made a slave

1. Which god suggested interfering in the battle and saving Hector? Zeus

1. Why is Achilles’ armor able to withstand a direct hit from Hector’s spear? The armor was made by the gods

1. How did Achilles know the weak spot in the battle gear Hector was wearing? The armor used to belong to him

1. Where is the weak spot in Hector’s armor? Under the neck in the soft spot between the collar bones and the breast plate

1. Why is Achilles so determined to shame the corpse of Hector? Because he is still enraged that Hector killed Patroclus

1. Which god helped Priam enter the Greeks’ camp? Hermes

1. What does Priam remind Achilles of when he comes to him seeking Hector’s body? His father

1. Why doesn’t Achilles go ahead and attack Troy after he kills Hector? What does he have to do? He feels like he needs to bury Patroclus before attacking

1. Why does Achilles tell Priam to stop grieving? It won’t do any good; it won’t bring Hector back to life

78. How did the Greeks defeat Troy? Odysseus created the wooden horse. It was hollow and several Greeks hide inside of it. The Greeks left in their ships and left one man behind to tell the Trojans that the Greeks had left them the Horse as a gift. Really, the Greeks sailed to a nearby island and hide their ships. The Trojans pulled the horse inside the walls of Troy and partied because they thought they had won the war. Unfortunately for the Trojans, who were too drunk to protest, the Greeks inside the horse crept out, opened the gates to the city and the rest of the Greeks returned. The Greeks entered the city and burned it to the ground.

These are not the review sheet but show up on the test

79. What is Achilles main weakness? His anger

80. What is Agamemnon’s main weakness” his pride

81. What does Achilles promise Priam he will do? Return Hector’s body and not allow the Greek to attack until the Trojans have time to give Hector a proper burial

82. Who told Achilles that he would shortly die after he killed Hector? His mother Thetis

83. Why does Achilles refuse to allow Priam to see Hector’s body? He feared the old king would become so upset that he might say something to anger the Greek

84. After Achilles returns Hector’s body, what does Priam encourage Achilles to do? Quit fighting and return home

Find the answer to at least three of the following questions: These are all in the book. You will have to find the answers to at least 3 of them. Anything you answer after 3 will be extra credit.

85. What is Achilles’ one physical weak spot? Why is this his weak spot?

86. What began the Trojan War? Go all the way back to the wedding between Thetis and Peleus?

87. What does Achilles agree to do for Priam/

88. How does Athena help Achilles in his fight with Hector?

89. Compare and contrast how Hector and Achilles will treat the other after death?

90. How is Achilles a good host to Priam?

91. How do the Achilles and the other Greeks disrespect Hector’s corpse.